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Malala Yousafzai wins Nobel Peace Prize: Here's her journey from writing as 'Gul Makai' to starting 'A world at school'

Written By Vishal Manve | Updated: Oct 10, 2014, 02:32 PM IST

And finally, Malala Yousafzai has won the much revered Nobel Peace prize 2014 — The 17-year-old Pakistani girl of Pashtun origin who was shot by Taliban for advocating women rights and education in Pakistan has stunned her critics and attackers as well. Malala survived the attempted homicide and was transferred to the UK with her family, where she was able to go to school and has since become a worldwide symbol for the fight against oppression on women and the right to education.

Malala is a symbol of hope and inspiration for many girls worldwide because of her staunch support to women's rights and education. In her tell-all-tale 'I am Malala', she has written about her childhood memoirs, her school, friends and gender disparity faced by children with respect to education. Called 'Gul Makai' by her father, Malala has two brothers and moved to United Kingdom for treatment post Talibani attack. Her book also chronicles how Taliban forces treat society in the country. 

Along with her father, Malala has started @MalalaFund and 'A world at school' campaign to empower children across the globe to seek the basic fundamental right to education. 

Below is a compilation of some facts about Malala Yousafzai: 

Malala wrote a blog for BBC Urdu under the pen name 'Gul Makai' which gained international traction. She voiced her opinions vociferously on education and the conditions faced by families in Pakistan under looming threat from Taliban. 

Below are some excerpts: Courtesy BBC 

Diary of a Pakistani schoolgirl

Private schools in Pakistan's troubled north-western Swat district have been ordered to close in a Taleban edict banning girls' education. Militants seeking to impose their austere interpretation of Sharia law have destroyed about 150 schools in the past year. Five more were blown up despite a government pledge to safeguard education, it was reported on Monday. Here a seventh grade schoolgirl from Swat chronicles how the ban has affected her and her classmates. The diary first appeared on BBC Urdu online.

THURSDAY JANUARY 15: NIGHT FILLED WITH ARTILLERY FIRE

The night was filled with the noise of artillery fire and I woke up three times. But since there was no school I got up later at 10 am. Afterwards, my friend came over and we discussed our homework. 
School in Swat allegedly destroyed by the Taleban

The Taleban have repeatedly targeted schools in Swat

Today is 15 January, the last day before the Taleban's edict comes into effect, and my friend was discussing homework as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Today, I also read the diary written for the BBC (in Urdu) and published in the newspaper. My mother liked my pen name 'Gul Makai' and said to my father 'why not change her name to Gul Makai?' I also like the name because my real name means 'grief stricken'. 

My father said that some days ago someone brought the printout of this diary saying how wonderful it was. My father said that he smiled but could not even say that it was written by his daughter.

To read all the blogs visit BBC NEWS

Here's how the event attracted international attraction:

Factsheet: 

* Malala Yousafzai was born on12 July 1997 and hails from town of Mingora in the Swat District of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

*In early 2009, at the age of 11–12, Yousafzai wrote a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC detailing her life under Taliban occupation, their attempts to take control of the valley, and her views on promoting education for girls in the Swat Valley. The following summer, a The New York Times documentary by journalist Adam B. Ellick was filmed about her life as the Pakistani military intervened in the region, culminating in the Second Battle of Swat. Yousafzai rose in prominence, giving interviews in print and on television, and she was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize by South African activist Desmond Tutu.

*On the afternoon of 9 October 2012, Malala boarded her school bus in the northwest Pakistani district of Swat. A gunman asked for Malala by name, then pointed a Colt 45 at her and fired three shots. One bullet hit the left side of Malala's forehead, traveled under her skin the length of her face and then into her shoulder.

*In the days immediately following the attack, she remained unconscious and in critical condition, but later her condition improved enough for her to be sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, for intensive rehabilitation. On 12 October, a group of 50 Islamic clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwa against those who tried to kill her, but the Taliban reiterated its intent to kill Yousafzai and her father.

*Yousafzai was educated in large part by her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, who is a poet, school owner, and an educational activist himself, running a chain of schools known as the Khushal Public School.

*Yousafzai started speaking about education rights as early as September 2008, when her father took her to Peshawar to speak at the local press club. "How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?" Yousafzai asked her audience in a speech covered by newspapers and television channels throughout the region.

Meanwhile stay tuned as Malala is set to address everyone after winning the Noble Prize: